ForestEthics : Protect Forests and Our Climate

FORTUNE 500 COMPANIES WARNED OF GREENWASH RISK

Tue, 09 Mar 2010

Greenwashing by the Sustainable Forestry Initiative (SFI) is again under harsh scrutiny, this time in a trend-setting eco-conscious magazine and in the mailboxes of its target markets.

Last Friday ForestEthics mailed letters to Fortune 500 companies that rely heavily on direct mail to market their products and services, including companies from the insurance, financial services and telecommunications sectors.

Citing the growing public controversy about SFI's deceptive 'green' marketing practices, the letters offer ForestEthics' expertise to help companies find legitimate ways to safeguard their brands and promote the environmental attributes of their products. (Letter available by request.)

"SFI's greenwashing could be toxic for any brand associated with it," said Aaron Sanger of ForestEthics. "SFI is spending millions of dollars to market business as usual environmental destruction as 'green', and these misleading claims undermine the hard work and smart choices of any business making a sincere effort to be environmentally responsible."

To raise awareness globally about SFI's greenwashing, ForestEthics published an ad (view the full size ad) in this month's Boho Magazine, whose eco-conscious readers in over 37 countries were greeted with a full page ad depicting a window's view of a clearcut forest with the headline "You can see right through SFI's greenwash." SFI's soothingly 'green' logo is modified to incorporate imagery suggesting forest destruction.

Boho Magazine is the winner of the AVEDA Environmental award for Best New Launch and winner of the 2009 SustainPrint "Newcomer Magazine of the Year" award. It is the first fashion magazine to use 100% recycled post-consumer waste paper and be completely UV-coating free, with no glossy finishes and only use of soy-based inks. Boho is available at bookstores and newsstands nationwide, including Barnes & Noble, Borders, Whole Foods, and Target and in more than 37 countries.

Last November, ForestEthics released a large floating banner exposing SFI as a greenwasher at Greenbuild, the world's largest green building conference in Phoenix, Arizona. The group also ran an ad in USA Today's Phoenix edition spotlighting SFI's greenwashing practice of certifying forest destruction as 'sustainable'.

These actions add powerful visual elements to a campaign that began in September when ForestEthics filed legal complaints with the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) and Internal Revenue Service (IRS) that became the focus of an article in the New York Times on September 12.

In its FTC complaint, ForestEthics described how SFI, funded and managed primarily by large logging companies, gives its seal of approval to the logging practices of these same companies that harm people and wildlife, damage water resources and destroy forests.

The report submitted to the IRS focused on SFI's nonprofit status, as SFI's funding and activities serve the private interests of wood and paper companies that want a 'green' image. This is not a proper purpose for an organization with the same nonprofit status that the IRS gives to public charities.

Slipping through the cracks

Fri, 05 Mar 2010

Download the .pdf report >>

Canada's Great Bear Rainforest is a global ecological treasure, dense with life and known for its cathedral-like old growth forests, concentrations of grizzly bear, salmon, wolves and the rare white 'spirit' bear. This rugged landscape, stretching along coastal British Columbia, represents 25% of the world's remaining intact temperate rainforest.

Building on the landmark 2006 Great Bear Rainforest Agreements to create protected areas on about a third of the landbase and implement new, 'lighter-touch' logging regulations under Ecosystem-based Management, the Province of British Columbia, First Nations, the forest industry and environmental groups reached a subsequent Agreement in March 2009. At the centre of the new Agreement is a commitment by all parties to move over the next five years towards the overall goals of Ecosystem-Based Management - maintaining ecological integrity and achieving high levels of human well-being. Ecological integrity is to be maintained by limiting risk to both ecosystems and to "focal" species, defined as species that need special management attention. In practice, this approach protects a portion of each type of ecosystem and of the habitat of each focal species in areas designated for lighter-touch logging through the EBM planning process.

As part of the five-year transition period, a set of 'lighter touch' (or transitional) logging requirements was developed in 2009, along with commitments to develop a more stringent set of regulations by March 2014. Commitments were also made to ensure that focal species habitat is at least being managed to maintain viable populations during this period.

The purpose of this report is to take a closer look at the focal species of the Great Bear Rainforest, and to evaluate progress on key government commitments to protect focal species. Recommendations include expedited completion of additional conservation measures, as well as measures to ensure that no crucial habitat is being logged in the interim.

GBR_species_report_March_5_2010.pdf

Canada's AvaTAR Sands ad in Variety Magazine

Thu, 04 Mar 2010

View larger version >>

From the Globe and Mail article, "Environmentalists back Avatar for Oscars," by Martin Mittelstaedt:

The pitch to make Alberta�s oil sands an example of life imitating art is appearing in a $20,000 (U.S.) advertisement this morning in a special Oscar edition of Variety. More than 50 environmental and native groups from eight countries have placed the full-page ad, an effort to try to convince Hollywood movers and shakers that what is going on in Alberta isn�t too far off the mark from the film�s fictional planet, Pandora, the source of �unobtainium,� the metal worth wrecking a planet.

Read the full article here >>

AVATARSANDS_Variety_Final_WEB.pdf

The Tyee -- An Avatar-Inspired Future for British Columbia

Wed, 24 Feb 2010

Since shattering box office records and baptizing millions into the cult of 3D, Avatar has sparked new pop psychology phenomena like, "Post-Avatar Depression" and the "Avatar blues." Audiences are so engrossed by the 3D beauty of Pandora (the planet on which the story takes place) that they experience feelings of depression when faced with the stark realities of real life outside the theatre.

Unless our provincial government can write a new ending for B.C.'s own real life Avatar story, we feel that British Columbians may be susceptible to the Avatar blues. Especially when they realize that our province is in danger of losing its own natural wealth because of one dimensional policy thinking.

Pandora is incredibly rich with plants and animals and so is British Columbia. We are home to 76 per cent of our nation's bird species, 70 per cent of its freshwater fish, 60 per cent of its evergreen trees, and thousands of other animals and plants that rival the weird and wonderful wildlife of Avatar: wolves that fish for salmon, white bears that inhabit ancient rainforest valleys, and even a slug -- the dromedary jumping slug -- that can twist its body off the ground to escape predators.

Read more...

Fortune 500 Fuel Announcements Rock Canadian Tar Sands Industry

Tue, 16 Feb 2010

Canadian headlines leading up to Vancouver�s Winter Olympics were dominated by the news that Whole Foods has rejected Canada�s Tar Sands and Bed, Bath & Beyond has requested cleaner fuel from its transportation carriers. In collaboration with ForestEthics, both businesses have developed new fuel policies aiming to reduce consumption of high-carbon fuels such as oil from the tar sands.

The FinancialTimes broke the story on February 11 in its article �Suppliers of oil sands fuel shunned�: �the decisions...underline how industry is moving to fill the void left by inaction at Copenhagen and the failure of the US Congress to limit carbon emissions.�

The Toronto Star said, that the announcements �mark a turning point in environmental activism against synthetic crude from Alberta, as climate campaigners work company by company to discourage consumption of Canadian energy..� The Guardian UK, the London Free Press, Macleans, the Calgary Sun, Fast Company, Treehugger, and the Canadian Press all weighed in, and Canada�s largest papers made space for editorials here, here, and here.

ForestEthics launched its US Tar Sands campaign in July 2009, mailing letters to more than a hundred Fortune 500 companies. The strong response from these two has forced industry representatives and the Canadian government to take notice of our efforts.

Government Response

Canadian Environment Minister Jim Prentice replied to the news in a Calgary Herald article. "The oilsands, at the end of the day, are an essential part of the overall supply-demand balance in North America," Prentice said. "But they do have to be developed in an environmentally responsible way. Industry in particular is going to have to tell its story and explain the real facts."

CBC News -- Corporate Oilsands Opposition Mounts

Wed, 10 Feb 2010

Two major U.S. retailers and an influential British shareholder group have rebuked Alberta's oilsands by avoiding suppliers who use oilsands-derived fuel, and putting pressure on energy titans.

Whole Foods Market, a U.S.-based grocery chain that caters to high-end, health conscious consumers, recently moved to stop using any fuel sourced from Alberta oilsands in its supply chain.

Since January, Whole Foods has been able to ensure that only fuels derived from U.S.-based crude oil are being use in the supply chains at 10 of the firm's 11 North American distribution centres.

Read more...

Financial Times -- Suppliers of oil sands fuel shunned

Wed, 10 Feb 2010

From the Financial Times:

"Two big US companies have decided to avoid suppliers that source fuel from Canada's oil sands to curb their carbon footprints.

The decisions by Whole Foods Market, an organic grocery chain, and Bed Bath & Beyond, a household goods company, underline how industry is moving to fill the void left by inaction at Copenhagen and the failure of the US Congress to limit carbon emissions.

Both companies are responding to ForestEthics, a non-governmental organisation that last year began campaigning to lead the US corporate sector away from oil sands fuel, which has a higher carbon content than conventional crude oil."

Read the full article >>

Huffington Post -- Subsidizing Junk Mail in the Great Recession

Fri, 29 Jan 2010

REPORT: A New Climate for Conservation

Thu, 28 Jan 2010

Download the full report as a .pdf here >>

Humanity faces two urgent and related challenges: the rapidly escalating loss of biodiversity and the predicted impacts of global climate change. This new report by senior scientist Dr. Jim Pojar identifies a comprehensive solution to both of these threats: a biodiversity and climate action strategy to help prevent the release of greenhouse gases, to ensure sufficient intact habitats to support healthy numbers of wild species, and to help plants and animals adapt to climate change impacts. This strategy should be anchored by a policy of maintaining intact forest ecosystems such that approximately 50% of B.C.�s land base is managed with conservation as the priority goal.

Global climate change is already having an impact in British Columbia and these effects will escalate in the coming decades. Annual temperatures are generally expected to increase by an average of 3 to 5�C. Winters are expected to be warmer and wetter, while summers will be wetter in the north and drier in the south of the province.

The most effective response to these changes is to preserve intact, functional ecosystems. Natural ecosystems are innately more resilient to the impacts of climate change than are fragmented, disturbed or degraded ecosystems. Intact systems are better able to regenerate after disturbances, to resist or recover from outbreaks of pests or diseases and to adapt to changes in temperature and available water supply. (Continued below media kit...)

A New Climate for Conservation Media Kit

Click here to download the full report as a .pdf >>

If you have Flash installed, click here to view the full report online >>

Click here to download the executive summary of the report as a .pdf >>

Click here to read the press release >>

Click here to download the media backgrounder as a .pdf >>

Click here to download the endorsed letter to B.C. >>

(...Continued from above media kit)

Intact, connected natural landscapes also help to pave the way for adaptation to occur by making it possible for plant and animal species to move to more hospitable habitats.

Further, intact ecosystems, especially forests and their soils, capture and store carbon dioxide. An estimated 18 billion tones of C02 are stored in B.C.�s forests. Deforestation releases carbon dioxide. Logging discharges more C02 into the atmosphere than any other single activity in B.C. Avoided deforestation thus prevents increased greenhouse gas emissions. Restoration of deforested landscapes can increase the capacity for carbon capture and storage and needs to be pursued with increased vigour in the province.

Finally and importantly, human well being depends on the vital, life-supporting goods and services (e.g., clean air, clean water, productive soils, soil and water conservation, flood control and many other benefits) inherent in natural ecosystems.

There are economic benefits to this strategy. Pilot projects in California are generating revenues from the sale of carbon credits for improved forest management and avoided deforestation.

Existing parks and protected areas will be the �arks� of survival and recovery for B.C.�s variety of wild species. However, they are not large or numerous enough to do the job on their own. B.C.�s system of conservation lands needs to be significantly enhanced by new conservation land use designations that make the protection of intact ecosystems a priority.

Download the full report as a .pdf >>

Or, if you have Flash installed, view it online >>

More good news for the Do Not Mail campaign

Tue, 26 Jan 2010

Great news in the fight to regain control of our mailboxes: the Seattle City Council just passed a resolution calling for a Do Not Mail registry in the state of Washington! Thanks to the tireless work of ForestEthics supporters like you across the country, we're making real headway in the campaign to reclaim our mailboxes, our privacy, and our forests.

Check out this brief online video we made about the victory:

Seattle media outlets have taken notice of our efforts:

First off, check out some of the news leading up to the Seattle City Council vote: watch this video clip from Seattle King 5 News, check out this post from Seattlite blog The SunBreak, and listen to this report from KPLU, Seattle's local National Public Radio station.

After we won, local Seattle news continued to focus on the story: read this punchy post from Seattle's weekly, The Stranger, and check out some more of the media hits from local blogs and news portals such as Seattlest, Investigate West, Catalog Choice's Paperless Blog, and Kiro Radio. And, if you want to see a great example of lazy journalism in the age of outmoded mainstream press, check out this piece from Seattle Times in which the author asserts that "The environmental community supported the resolution because of all the extra trash created by unwanted mail." Sorry Times, but trash alone, albeit a major issue in the "environmental community," hardly encompasses the wide range of environmental issues that are caused by the production, distribution, and disposal of junk mail. Perhaps an interview with a representative from this community could have elucidated on this myriad of issues? Oh, and yes, we are also quite simply annoyed by it and concerned about our privacy � just like most Americans.

Want to pass a resolution in your city? Download the toolkit to get started today!

Junk mailers have taken notice of our efforts:

In December 2009, we released our annual junk mail scorecard and saw three top junk mailers -- American Express, Chase and Capital One -- respond to the pressure that supporters like you are helping to build. Previously, these companies refused to even talk to us about their junk mail habits, but your Return to Offender actions got them talking. Now, we are committed to keeping their feet to the fire until they reform their wasteful practices.

Want to get more involved in exposing the destructive paper practices of major junk mailers? Learn about the upcoming Do Not Mail Campaign Video Project and start submitting your footage today >>

SEATTLE PASSES �DO NOT MAIL� JUNK MAIL RESOLUTION

Mon, 25 Jan 2010

* High Resolution Photos and B-Roll Available

SEATTLE - Today, the Seattle City Council passed a resolution calling on the state of Washington to create a Do Not Mail Registry giving its citizens the choice to stop receiving unwanted junk mail.

Introduced by City Council President Richard Conlin, the Council approved the resolution by an 8-1 vote.

The non-binding resolution follows a similar resolution passed in San Francisco and suggests that American lawmakers are becoming more assertive in representing Americans on consumer and environmental issues. According to a 2007 Zogby poll, 89% of Americans support the creation of a Do Not Mail Registry.

"Seattle once again finds itself at the forefront of efforts to apply common sense to the concerns of ordinary citizens in the 21st Century," said ForestEthics Executive Director Todd Paglia. "Americans seem to agree on less and less, but almost all of us want to stop junk mail. With this vote, Seattle is standing up for its citizens, for environmental protection, and for forests."

The resolution contains a provision directing the Seattle Public Utility to evaluate all existing junk mail opt-out services so that the city can promote the most effective one. The SPU's findings will be reported by June 30, 2010, and will help consumers nationwide make sense of an increasingly crowded-and not always well-intentioned-junk mail "reduction" scene.

A Do Not Mail Registry, similar to the 2003 Do Not Call Registry that gave citizens the choice not to receive telemarketing calls, would allow citizens to opt out of commercial junk mail. Though the direct mail industry has opposed similar legislation in the past by characterizing Do Not Mail as a "ban" on junk mail, a registry would allow Americans to continue to receive direct mail if they so choose.

Bills calling for Do Not Mail registries have been defeated in more than 20 states due to pressure from the junk mail industry and the US Postal Service.

Every year 100 million trees are logged to produce the 100 billion pieces of junk mail Americans receive. Junk mail's production generates the carbon emissions of more than 9 million cars. U.S. junk mail accounts for 30% of all the mail delivered in the world, though 44% of it goes to landfills unopened.

In an interview given Sunday to Seattle NPR affiliate KPLU, Conlin discussed the cost benefits of the resolution: "From the city's perspective, it becomes garbage that we have to dispose of, and we have to pay for disposing of it. And even if it's recycled, recycling still isn't as good as not having it in the waste stream at all."

More than 110,000 Americans have signed ForestEthics' petition at donotmail.org calling for the creation of a national Do Not Mail Registry.

ForestEthics' 4th annual Naughty/Nice List: A scorecard on the catalog and direct mail industry

Mon, 07 Dec 2009

This holiday season, the catalog and direct mail industry is showing strong trends toward �greener� forest and paper policies despite several laggards playing �grinch� according to our 4th annual Naughty/Nice List: a scorecard on the catalog & direct mail industry.

Download the .pdf of the scorecard >>

Receiving holiday-themed scores of Naughty, Nice, or Checking Twice, 21 companies, including companies in the financial sector, were evaluated according to four criteria: whether or not Endangered Forests are cut to produce the company�s catalogs; whether the company uses Forest Stewardship Council (FSC)-certified paper; the amount of post-consumer recycled content in the company�s direct mailings; and the company�s efforts to reduce overall paper consumption.

Download the .pdf of the scorecard >>

Or, you can view it below if you have Flash installed in your browser:

Moms against climate change video featured in The Vancouver Sun

Mon, 16 Nov 2009

The following is an excerpt from an article which appears in The Vancouver Sun, written by Barbara Yaffe:

"Environmentalists are turning up heat on Canadian politicians heading to a Dec. 6 climate change conference in Copenhagen -- by targeting moms.

The new campaign, Moms Against Climate Change, features a gut-punching staged video, filmed in Toronto.

It shows masses of youngsters protesting against climate change, beaten back by burly baton-wielding riot police.

It also features a website (takeactiononclimatechange.com), inviting parents to post their kids' photos on a virtual wall, asking: "If our children knew the facts we do, they'd take action. Shouldn't you?"

Once the climate change conference gets under way in two weeks, the activists intend to project the photo images on walls near the Copenhagen proceedings and Parliament Hill."

Read the full article >>

View the video PSA:

ForestEthics exposes SFI Greenwash at Greenbuild 2009

Fri, 13 Nov 2009

Click on image to enlarge.

Shaking things up at the conference

In his keynote address on the opening day of Greenbuild, the world�s largest green building conference, Al Gore exhorted the audience to be vigilant against the deceptive practice of �Greenwash.�

We agree. At this year�s Greenbuild, ForestEthics called Sustainable Forestry Initiative (SFI) on its greenwash. The morning after the speech, ForestEthics released a large floating banner announcing to the crowd of 25,000 �SFI= Green~~build~~wash." The banner hovered directly over the Sustainable Forestry Initiative�s booth, providing a necessary rejoinder to the �sustainable� talk being peddled below.

Watch a slideshow of our various activities at Greenbuild below and read the press release here >>

Our ad in USA Today

Simultaneously, we launched an ad in the USA Today, also spotlighting the greenwashing practices of SFI. The ad copy reads:

"With views like this, some window companies have no business at Greenbuild.

You're only as green as the companies you keep. And while Andersen Windows, Kolbe Windows & Doors, and Jeld-Wen are in Phoenix this for Greenbuild, the world's largest green building conference, they're doing business with some decidedly ungreen characters. Names like Sierra Pacific Industries, whose name belies its greenwashing practice of certifying "destruction as usual" logging.

If these window companies really want to be considered green, they ought to reconsider the crowd they're running with. Until then, they have no business running with the crowd at Greenbuild."

Click on the ad to view a larger version, and tell these windows companies to green up their act and save the Sierra >>

Phony Forest Protection Program Exposed at World�s Largest Green Building Conference

Thu, 12 Nov 2009

Click here to view a larger version this ad.

Greenwashing by the Sustainable Forestry Initiative (SFI) was an unexpected addition to the agenda at this year�s Greenbuild�the world�s largest green building conference�in Phoenix, Arizona. Today�the day after keynote speaker Al Gore exhorted Greenbuild to call out greenwashing�ForestEthics released a large floating banner exposing SFI as a greenwasher.

On the conference�s opening day, ForestEthics ran an ad in USA Today�s Phoenix edition spotlighting SFI�s �greenwashing practice� of certifying forest destruction as �sustainable�. Copies of this ad and a brochure detailing SFI�s shortcomings circulated throughout the massive conference�with an estimated attendance of 25,000 people.

The ad targeted three prominent window companies for their ties to SFI, as well as to �notorious� California clearcutter Sierra Pacific Industries.

Learn more about the ad and the banner here >>
(PDFs of the Ad & Photos of the Floating Banner available on request

In October, the Sierra Club also filed a complaint with SFI, presenting scientific evidence that SFI certified logging by Weyerhaeuser on extremely steep and unstable mountainsides in SW Washington despite publicly available evidence that these mountainsides were prone to landslides. In a major regional rainstorm in December 2007,massive landslides did occur on logging sites certified by SFI as sustainable, producing downstream logjams and record flooding. The report submitted to the IRS focused on SFI's nonprofit status, as SFI�s funding and activities serve the private interests of wood and paper companies that want a 'green' image. This is not a proper purpose for an organization with the same nonprofit status that the IRS gives to public charities.